The disclosed embodiments relate to hinge, and in particular a hinge with a friction reducing member biased against a surface, for example a bearing against a rolling surface.
Hinge assemblies are well known and in use in many technical fields, such as for example pedals for activating a switch. In particular, hinge assemblies that bias a pedal toward a rest state, deactivation position, are common in medical fields and industrial settings. Such devices are typically referred to as foot switches. For example, hinges are used in many activatable foot switches including, for example, electromechanical, ratiometric, potentiometer, encoder, hydraulic, pneumatic, linear hall effect, magnetic, digital, linear and wireless infra-red and radiofrequency (RF), infrared (IR), photo, optical, inductive, capacitive, resistive, force, inertial and sound switches.
A common characteristic in many known hinged foot switches is that they have two positions—a rest/deactivation position and an activated position. Usually, a pivoting body (i.e., treadle) is attached to a base and biased into the rest position away from the position that activates the switch. The bias on the foot pedal can come in a variety of mechanisms, with the most widespread being a compressed spring or springs positioned between the base and pedal underneath the pedal to bias the pedal away from the base (i.e., biasing upward against the pedal in most devices). The switch is activated by forcing the pedal against the bias toward an activation position, usually by a user stepping on the switch. In many medical and industrial settings, the devices are exposed to debris, contaminants and/or other materials that get trapped underneath the pedal.
Such devices with a spring biasing a pedal in the direction opposite from or substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the treadle carry several drawbacks. Since the pedal is only movable up and down between the rest position and activation position, areas underneath the pedal fill with debris and/or corrode because they are concealed by the pedal in both rest and activation positions and thus difficult or impossible to clean.